Wednesday, May 10, 1995 - The Michigan Daily -3
U.S. files motion
against dismissal
of Baker case
I
t
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he house at 1617 Washtenaw, which was once home to Tau Gamma Nu, will become a coop in Septeml
Co-op council prepares to buy
closed Tau Gamma Nu house
By Christina Rieske but if you are looking at the reality of it is "If we have 30 people living in the
For the Daily that it is an old house that needed work," house the revenue created will cover the
A piece of University history will Stevens said. expenses. We have put enough of our
disappear this summer, as the Inter-Co- ICC intends to purchase the house own equity into the building that the rev-
operative Council prepares to purchase for $400,000, and plans to spend ap- enue we generate from the new occu-
the first house specifically designed for a proximately $100,000 on renovations. In pants will cover the cost," Jones said.
fraternity. order to make a profit from the new co- The acquisition of 1617 Washtenaw
In an April referendum, ICC voted to op, ICC plans to reorganize existing will open ICC housing to 30 new stu-
purchase the Tau Gamma Nu house on space and build additional rooms. The dents with 11 singles, eight doubles and
ashtenaw Avenue. ICC is scheduled to building will also receive a new roof. one triple. The ICC owns 19 houses
rchase the house in June. "What we would like to do is to across campus.
Tau Gamma Nu fraternity was splice some of the larger rooms into "We should not have trouble filling
forced to sell the house because of in- singles. We are primarily looking at the the house. The spaces in the co-ops have
creasing financial problems in recent downstairs and basement to create more been filling faster every year," Jones
years. rooms," said Jim Jones, ICC executive said.
"Two years ago we had fifty members director. "Our goal is to provide more ICC will meet with the planning
and only six signed on to live in the house. privacy in all cases. We are trying to commission on May 16 to decide
Most were planning to live away from the have less density on the upper floors and whether the occupancy will be increased
house and just use it as a social setting," more single rooms." from 24 people to 30 people. If the occu-
said Norm Stevens, the president of the Purchase of the house will not cause pancy is expanded, the new ICC house
O au Gamma Nu Grand Council. an increase in ICC charges for members. will open in September.
The fraternity tried to make it manda-
tory that some members live in the
house, but the attempt failed. Tao
Gamma Nu recently made major renova-
tions on the house, but without a fully oc-
cupied house they were unable to pay off
their loans or mortgage.
"The emotional ties are really strong,
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By Matt Smart
Daily Staff Reporter
The U.S. Attorney's Office filed a mo-
tion to keep their case against suspended
University student Jake Baker alive last
Friday, reaffirming the government's
stance that Baker remains a threat. The
motion was aresponse to a defense motion
for dismissal earlier in the week.
Baker has been charged with five
counts of transmitting threats through
interstate commerce to injure and kidnap
another person. He faces up to five years
in prison and $250,000 in fines for each
of the five charges.
The charges focus on e-mail corre-
spondence Baker had with an Ontario
man identified as Arthur Gonda. In the
messages, Baker and Gonda discussed
the possibility of kidnapping, torturing
and raping young women.
Baker's attorney Douglas Mullkoff
said he filed the motion for dismissal
"based on the fact that the government's
offered proofs did not rise to the level of
the Federal Threat Statute." He said the
law states a threat must carry the "immi-
nent prospect of execution."
"They are claiming the content of
those messages violates the Threat Stat-
ute," Mullkoff said. "We don't believe
they have a strong enough case for them
to even have a trial."
The U.S. Attorney's Office could not
be reached for comment.
Mullkoff said the next step was to
wait for Federal Judge Avern Cohn's de-
cisions on the motions.
Baker received widespread attention
after the University suspended himin Janu-
ary, when administration was notified of
several sexually explicit stories he posted
on the Internet. One of the stories included
the name of a University student.
The FBI ar-
rested Baker in
Ann Arbor at the
office of his
former attorney
David Cahill on
Feb. 9.
He was in- ><:
dicted by a
Wayne County
grand jury early
the next week on
one federal Baker
charge of trans-
mitting a threat to injure or kidnap a per-
son in interstate or foreign commerce.
The charge stemmed from Baker's post-
ing to the alt.sex.stories newsgroup on the
Internet and from e-mail correspondence
Baker had with Gonda.
Two federal judges denied Baker bail
on Feb. 10, finding him too dangerous
for society and a threat to the female stu-
dent named in one of his Internet stories.
Baker spent over a month in Milan
Federal Prison before being released on
a $10,000 bond. He is currently living in
Boardman, Ohio with his mother while
awaiting trial. He is restricted from enter-
ing Ann Arbor except to see his attor-
ney, and is not allowed to upload any in-
formation to the Internet.
Gonda is named as codefendant in
three counts.
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